


i'm gonna make you feel (show you something real)

by loodins



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Falling In Love, Family, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Kid Fic, M/M, Warnings in End Notes, with like the smallest dash of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-07
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-15 00:10:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13601397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loodins/pseuds/loodins
Summary: Mitch is staring at him, frowning. “I thought you only had two sisters.”Auston thought he had put it together. Like—Ana looks like Auston, if he’s being completely honest. She has his exact same eyes, a similar face structure—her skin is just a tad lighter, then again her mom wasn’t half-Mexican, either. He guesses it could make sense that he could have a sister that looks like that. He walks towards the table to take a seat. “I do only have two sisters, Marns. Do you want to sit?”Mitch moves slowly but does end up sitting. He sits where Auston’s dad normally does and fidgets with the newspaper that Brian had left there earlier. He’s still looking at Auston. “You didn’t actually steal a—““Dumbass,” Auston cuts him off. “She’s my daughter.”





	i'm gonna make you feel (show you something real)

**Author's Note:**

> If you are or you know someone mentioned in this fic, please turn away. I do not claim to know anything about these dudes except for what is public knowledge (so their names, ages, the actual family members that are mentioned, and... they play hockey). Apart from that, I made it all up. This is purely a work a fiction, written for fun. 
> 
> Title from “Atic” by Astid S. 
> 
> There have been a lot of kid fics lately. I started this when there were only one or two for this pair, but I am ALL FOR the kid fics. So, here's another. 
> 
> Most Spanish in this is from Google translate. I tried to get it as accurate as possible, so. Let me know if anything is very wrong! I did try and research some things that I knew were different in Mexico (the different ways to say love, terms of endearment, etc). 
> 
> ETA: thank you Julie95 for correcting the Spanish! I'm leaving that ^ in just in case anything was accidentally missed. (Also, she did point out Papi is usually used for "daddy" in Spanish, and I did know that, but as it is his nickname among his family/friends, I chose to use Papá. If this turns out to be me being clueless on the language/culture and the whole nickname/father thing happens a lot, just let me know I'm an idiot!) 
> 
> ETA (03/15/18): I was given a note about cariño, after researching it much, much more, I have found that it is, indeed, a term of endearment for children in Mexico. I personally really love it, so I've decided to keep it. I've been told that in some other Spanish speaking countries it is a term of endearment that is used between romantic partners and would be seen as very odd between a father/daughter, so if you are a Spanish speaker from one of those countries, I apologize! It only comes up like... twice? I believe? Maybe three times. Thank you somehowunbroken for the note! :) 
> 
> I do not do a toddler accent in writing—in my PERSONAL opinion I find that unless it's a dialect, accents can take away from a reading experience for me. I apologize if this in any way effects your enjoyment of this fic! 
> 
> There is one warning in the end notes! 
> 
> This is not beta'd.

“What do you value over the game?”

Auston looks at Babcock. The older man is staring at him, waiting for his answer and Auston—he sighs. “My happiness. I play hockey because I love it, and I don’t see that fading anytime soon, if ever. And I know that even if it affects my happiness, it is a job and I accept that responsibility. Also, my family,” he answers honestly. “My parents, sisters, and I also have a daughter,” he says. He stares at the table as the words leave his mouth and refuses to look at the circle of people around him.

Someone shifts in their seat, and he looks up. “Your daughter,” Lou prompts, “how old?”

“Three, sir.”

“Are you involved much in her life?”

Auston nods. “Her mom terminated her rights, I have full custody. She comes with me. It’s—she’s why my parents follow me where I go. She’s my daughter and I take care of her as much as I can, but they have always been happy to help where I’ve been unable.”

“What’s her name?” Babcock asks. Auston thinks his lips might be slanted up, but—he also thinks he must be imagining it.

“Ana.”

The men at the table nod, and then they’re moving on.

Mere minutes later they finish up and bid him goodbye. Before he manages to make it out the door, Babcock smiles at him. “I’m looking forward to meeting Ana.”

And, well.

Auston is looking forward to Toronto.

He can’t say that though, so instead he nods back. “I’ll bet she’s looking forward to meeting you.”

**;

He’s drafted first overall by the Leafs. Ana doesn’t get to go to the draft, but Auston promises Babcock it won’t be long before he meets her.

**;

Development camp comes quick after the draft, and Auston is excited to start. He meets— _a lot_ of people. Prospects from all over buzz around camp, but he finds Marner on the second day during a lunch and they… click.

Mitch is the only one to laugh at Auston’s deadpan humor at the table, and is the only one who is able to make Auston as goofy as he is with his friends at the NDP. Plus, Mitch understands what Auston is going through—not on a personal level necessarily (though he was a top prospect as well), but Connor McDavid is one of his close friends, so yeah, Mitch gets it to an extent.

He’s one of the few people there who treats the ‘Savior of the Franchise’ label as a joke rather than taking it as a truth. It’s… nice. Nice to have someone in his corner, but also nice to have a friend.

They trade numbers and keep in contact almost daily until the World Cup, and then Mitch offers support and Auston responds when he’s not overwhelmed with all of the NHL stars around him or his schedule and—it’s still nice. Coming back to his apartment that his dad had found for the three of them—Auston, Ana, and him—and having someone to talk to, who is willing to shoot the shit about movies that are so bad they’re good instead of how he’s playing in this international tournament.

Auston—really appreciates him.

But between development camp, the World Cup, training camp, setting up contacts at SickKids Toronto, and pre-season, Auston hadn’t had time to figure out his move with Ana. Even Mitch, who is quickly becoming a best friend of Auston’s in the three months that they had known each other, doesn’t even have a clue of her existence.

(It makes Auston feel both collected and like an awful father.)

The beginning of the season is—intense. Out of their first five games, they’ve only won one, and of course that came in the only game he didn’t register a point.

Like, look, scoring four goals in his NHL debut was incredible, but Auston hasn’t even contributed to a win yet and they’re already almost two weeks into the season.

Thankfully—he gets the day off after one of their road trips—three days after Ana’s birthday.

Ana had gotten her presents in the morning, and then they ran to the store around the corner—picking up everything they need so they can make her cake together. Auston… isn’t really sure how it’s going to go, yet, but Ana wants to, so he is going to try.

They get home from the store and Auston herds Ana back towards the front door of his building. He sticks his key in and turns the lock and—

“Matts?”

Auston spins around in surprise, and Ana looks up at him quick in confusion. He puts his free hand on her head and ruffles her hair in a comforting move, and then looks at—Mitch. “Hey, Marns,” Auston greets. “What are you doing?”

“I was coming to pick you up for Willy’s and you looked like you could use some help.”

Auston frowns. “Willy’s?”

“Yeah,” Mitch nods, his eyes flicking down to Ana who has reached up to grab Auston’s hand. She’s playing with his fingers though Auston barely notices right now. “We said on the plane last night we’d go to his place for drinks and Xbox.”

“Oh,” Auston says because—yeah, he remembers that now. “Sorry, dude.”

“I texted,” Mitch says.

Auston flicks his eyes down to the bags and then Ana. “I’ve been busy.”

Mitch’s eyebrows go up. “Yeah? Did you steal a kid from SickKids?” he asks, and it sounds like he might be joking but like—he also might not be. He crouches down then and grins wide at Ana. He sticks his hand out. “Hey. I’m Mitch. Who are you?”

Ana looks up to Auston with wide eyes. Auston nods at her and she looks back to Mitch and takes his hand in hers to shake it. “Ana,” she tells him.

“Yeah? That’s a pretty name, Ana.”

“Thank you,” she says politely. Mitch’s grin grows wider.

“How old are you, Ana?”

Ana holds up three fingers.

“Are you, mija?” Auston asks. “Are you _this many_ ,” he asks, holding up three fingers, “or _this many?_ ” He holds up four.

She turns back to Mitch and holds out four fingers.

“Wow, that’s so many,” Mitch gasps.

She nods. “It’s four.”

“Oh, wow,” Mitch says. “I wish I was four.”

Auston doesn’t doubt him.

Auston puts his hand back on Ana’s head and cards his fingers through her hair. “So, I’m sorry, dude. I can’t go today. Ana and I are making a cake.” To prove his point, he lifts the bag and shakes it. Mitch nods, but cocks his head at Auston as he stands back up. Auston sighs. “Do you wanna come up?”

Mitch nods his head. “Sure.”

When they reach Auston’s apartment, he unlocks it and then pushes it open with his shoulder. Ana runs in ahead of him and into the living room. She launches herself on the couch and crawls over to Auston’s dad, who grabs her and begins wrestling with her in his lap, and she starts laughing gleefully. It’s cute enough and routine enough that he almost forgets Mitch is there. Just for a moment. He doesn’t though. He turns and motions Mitch forward, and Mitch moves in and slips his shoes off.

“Nice place,” he says, tone even and void of too much emotion. Auston knows him well enough by now that he can still pick up on Mitch’s confusion.

“Thanks,” he says. He leads Mitch to the kitchen, past his dad and Ana. His dad looks at him in surprise, but Ana demands his attention again and Auston doesn’t even have time to make a face at him.

They get to the kitchen and he tosses the bags on the counter, and then throws his keys on the dining room table. Mitch watches, but says nothing as Auston starts unloading the groceries. Auston can see his friend taking in the room around him—the booster seat on one of the dining room chairs, the three sippy cups sitting near the sink, the drawings on the fridge. Just a room away, Ana is talking in a mix of Spanish and English to Auston’s dad.

He finishes putting the groceries away—they didn’t get many, just enough to make her cake plus a few essentials they were low on—and turns to look at Mitch. He leans back against the counter and crosses his arms over his chest protectively. Mitch is staring at him, frowning. “I thought you only had two sisters.”

Auston thought he had put it together. Like—Ana _looks_ like Auston, if he’s being completely honest. She has his exact same eyes, a similar face structure—her skin is just a tad lighter, then again her mom wasn’t half-Mexican, either. He guesses it could make sense that he could have a sister that looks like that (he honestly hasn’t compared what his sisters looked like at that age to Ana now). He walks towards the table to take a seat. “I do only have two sisters, Marns. Do you want to sit?”

Mitch moves slowly but he eventually does end up sitting. He sits where Auston’s dad normally does and fidgets with the corners of the newspaper that Brian had left there earlier. He’s still looking at Auston. “You didn’t _actually_ steal a—“

“ _Dumbass_ ,” Auston cuts him off. “She’s my _daughter_.”

Mitch’s jaw snaps shut with an audible _click_ from his teeth. He stares at Auston, and then around the room again. “Oh… I guess that makes sense.”

“Oh my god,” Auston says in a harsh tone, though he doesn’t… _really_ mean it. Just… “You _guess?_ ”

“Hey,” Mitch bites out, sounding defensive, “I figured you would have _told_ me if you had a daughter. That’s not something most people keep _secret_.”

And well, yeah. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Mitch huffs. “At least it explains your jokes. I hadn’t realized you were allowed to make dad-jokes when we met.”

Auston blinks. “ _Dude._ ”

Mitch grins wide at him. “Just being honest.” He pauses and seems to take on a serious tone again. “It’s just like—what the fuck. She’s four? How do you have a four-year-old daughter? How does no one know?”

“She just turned four on the 20th… I was 14 at the time, so, she wasn’t—a mistake but, she was a mistake, really. Her mom was 16. We were— _really_ fucking stupid. I just—had older friends where, you know, sex was a thing, and her mom and I had been dating for a while and... Her mom was going to put her up for adoption—had already interviewed a few couples. I was on my way to Ann Arbor so she thought I didn’t—“ He pauses. “I felt bad for the couples, but—I. She was _mine_. About two months before she was born we decided I’d keep her, and my parents would raise her. That—didn’t work out well, because. Like I said—she’s _mine_. They do a lot for her, but she’s my daughter—I’m her father, I do everything I can for her. It’s just—hockey.”

“Jesus,” Mitch breathes.

Auston frowns. “Sorry.”

“Dude, I already said don’t be.”

“I know, but like—it’s a lot.”

Mitch shrugs. “Yeah, but like. I get it. A little bit. Not a whole lot, really, but like. I can grasp your mind set.”

Auston laughs. “At the time I wanted to just—up and quit. She was so small and I was gone so much. I still am. But… we managed, and now I make more money than I would have if I tried to get a desk job, you know? I can set her up—she already has a college fund—that would have taken _years_ to even set up with a desk job. We have a nice apartment with a park next door and… we’re happy.”

“Matts, you don’t have to explain yourself,” Mitch reassures him. “Like, dude, yeah I’m fuckin’ surprised, but. What would you do if you found out I had a kid?”

“… Fair point.”

“Exactly,” Mitch says. “Just—give me a little while to adjust. Genuine question though, dude.” Mitch waits until Auston tilts his head. “I don’t mean to be rude, y’know, but like. Why _aren’t_ you telling anyone? You’re here for years, and your entire career if you don’t leave. You think you can hide her from everyone?”

Auston scowls. “I’m going to tell people,” he argues.

“Yeah? Does—who all knows?”

“All of the higher staff know. Babs, Lou, the other coaches, the trainers… I don’t think he told the equipment staff though. Outside of Toronto, not many people. My entire family, obviously. A few NDP guys—Z, Chucky, Fish. Shanny, Bergy, Kells, over on the Lions. A lot of my friends back home know, too since Rachel and I were kind of together before she was pregnant, and she wasn’t the type to sleep around, so, even if we didn’t directly tell everyone, most people in our group and school knew. A lot of people don’t know I kept her, though, since I moved away right as she was born and my mom took care of her until she could travel with her to Michigan. Rachel didn’t tell anyone except our closest friends so they could meet Ana.”

Mitch nods. “Rachel? She nice?”

“Yeah,” Auston says. “She’s still a good friend, it’s just. It was—really weird. You know, like, you’re not supposed to lose your virginity and get a girl pregnant at 14, and be a dad at 15. But like I said, my friends were older and so I thought that’s what I was supposed to be doing. It was not what I should have been doing. Which—don’t get me wrong. Ana is perfect but she is both the only reason I do and don’t regret it. So it’s. Not ideal. And Rachel is great. She released her rights as soon as Ana was born, but she still tries to see her when she can. Ana doesn’t really know Rachel is her mom. Rachel wants it that way, she doesn’t want to be a mom, but still loves Ana. I don’t know. It’s all—it’s all _so_ messed up. And I just—I don’t tell people, not because I’m embarrassed of Ana, but because I’m embarrassed of how it happened.”

It’s quite for a long minute as Mitch takes it in. Then he looks at Auston. “Can I see her again?”

Auston feels a grin starting to form, and tries to stop it. He doesn’t think he’s successful, but Mitch doesn’t say anything either way. “Yeah, let’s go.”

He leads Mitch towards the living room and—

“Do you think your papá wants you up there?” Auston hears his dad ask.

He looks around the corner and scowls. “Ana Maria!” Auston scolds.

Ana freezes. She pauses her ascent of the coffee table, climbs down, and looks down at the ground. “Perdón, Papá.”

Auston looks at his dad, who is hiding a grin behind his hand, and glares. Brian shrugs and tries to defend himself, “you used to do that stuff all the time!”

“I don’t care,” Auston huffs. (Behind him, Mitch whispers “oh my god you are a literal dad” and Auston has to use all of his self control to not laugh at Mitch’s shock). He walks over and hoists Ana up into his arms. “Tables are not for sitting, standing, or climbing, got it?”

“ _Sí_ , Papá,” Ana sighs dejectedly.

“Good, thank you. Now—do you want to meet Mitch?”

She looks at Mitch. “I _did_ ,” she frowns.

“You’re right,” Auston smiles at her. “Can you say hi again?”

She narrows her eyes at Mitch. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Mitch says. He takes a step closer to them. Auston watches Ana’s face relax and soften the longer she stares at Mitch’s smile and, well, he gets it. Like father like daughter, honestly.

She breaks her gaze from Mitch and looks at Auston. “Papá,” she, well… tries to whisper. She’s not good at it. He looks down at her and tilts his head. “¿Es amable?”

Auston nods. “Sí, es mi amigo.”

Ana looks back to Mitch. She nods. “Okay. Do you want to make a cake?”

Auston looks at Mitch and by the look on his face—bright and joyous—‘no’ was never an answer that even crossed Mitch’s mind.

**;

Mitch and Auston lean against the counter while the cake bakes in the oven and watch Ana as she scribbles in one of her coloring books.

“She speaks Spanish, too?” Mitch asks.

Auston gives him an unimpressed look. “Everyone in my family does, Marns. It’s my mom’s first language, and she was with me the first three years of Ana’s life.”

“Oh,” Mitch says. “That—makes sense.”

Auston laughs and mocks, “oh, _does it?_ ” He lets Mitch push him, pushes Mitch back, and when they’re both done, crosses his arms over his chest and returns to leaning against the counter and watching Mitch watch his daughter (sue him, it’s new). “No, but. She likes Spanish better than English. She wasn’t around too many Spanish speakers growing up, so last year when we were in Zurich she thought we were speaking in—code or something. She thought there was _no one else_ who could understand us, which like, over there I don’t know if there was, but. Now when we’re around others she likes speaking in our _code_.” Auston looks over to her. “She likes you though—she stopped with the Spanish pretty quick tonight.”

Mitch smiles and looks proud of himself as he watches Ana coloring. “So what about the cake? Do you guys make it every year?”

He shakes his head. “She gets a birthday wish every year in addition to a few gifts,” Auston explains. “This is only her second year being able to wish, but it—anything reasonable she gets. Just one thing. She hasn’t figured that out—last year she wanted a toy and this year she wants to make her own cake. I might regret it when she starts dreaming bigger.”

Mitch looks away from Ana and looks at Auston. “Don’t worry, you got this.”

Auston looks back at him and thinks—yes. Yes, Auston does have this, and he is so grateful that Mitch knows.

**;

Three weeks later, they’ve fallen into a routine. Brian takes Ana to school and back, while Auston rides with Mitch to any practices, games, or flights they have. Mitch comes over when they’re home and spends time with Auston and Ana—has even gone as far to take his pregame nap on the couch in Auston’s living room with Ana taking her own nap on Mitch’s chest. The rest of the team keep chirping them for being attached at the hip, but both of them brush it off easily. They’ve always been close—the only friendship that might rival his with Mitch is Mitch and Marty, and that one is just—unreal, honestly.

They got in to Pittsburgh late last night after a win at home against the Flyers, and now they’re sitting together eating room service for lunch. Practice already passed, and they’re getting ready for their pre-game nap with lunch and TV. It’s nice to be able to share the days with Mitch. He’s Auston’s best friend and favorite person so spend time with, so it’s no hardship, and since he’s the only one on the team who knows about Ana so far, Auston doesn’t have to be careful.

Mitch, however, is still very careful with almost all things Ana. “Hey, dude,” Mitch says, drumming his fingers nervously on the mattress.

Auston looks up. “Yeah?”

“So, like—Ana. _The name_ Ana, I mean. Doesn’t—it doesn’t have any good nicknames, you know?” Mitch asks. Auston stops himself from laughing and he nods. “I just—hear you call her all these things, and. I don’t want to overstep, but—what can _I_ call her besides Ana?”

Auston… actually really appreciates that. It’s considerate of Mitch to ask, when he easily could have simply copied off of Auston. Auston drops his fork and sits up. “Anything I call her, you can call her. I trust you with her, and most of what I refer to her as is just familiar names. _Mi gracia_ is just ‘my grace,’ which, Ana apparently means grace? My mom called her that and it caught on. _Cariño_ is just like—sweetie. _Mija_ is technically like, slang for ‘my daughter,’ but everyone in my family uses it for Ana, most people use mijo and mija for little kids no matter their relation. My mom still calls me _mijo_ sometimes. Those are all fine. There’s really none that are like, strictly _mine_ or _our family’s_ , but—Ana loves you, dude. You can call her anything you want.”

“Are you sure?”

Auston nods. “Totally, dude. Thanks for asking.”

The finish eating and take their naps and Auston just—sleeps really well.

**;

It’s the night after their home game against the Caps that they won. Both Mitch and Auston had a good game so they went out with the team after the game for an hour, and then opted to spend the next day relaxing and spending sometime with Ana since they were leaving on a week long road trip in the morning.

Mitch heads home around 7 since they have a 4 am flight the next morning, and kisses Ana’s forehead as he leaves. It’s the first time he’s actually left before Ana was asleep and—it doesn’t go very well.

Ana is screaming bloody murder after he’s gone, reaching up and trying to open the door to follow after Mitch, though he left over five minutes ago. Auston sighs heavily, and picks her up, yet again, and carries her away from the door. She starts kicking in his arms and flops forward to try and reach back for the door. “ _No!_ ” she screams for at least the third time.

Auston walks her over to the couch. He hands her one of her favorite sippy cups and goes to stand up. When she immediately goes to push off the couch, he crouches back down and puts his hands on her hips, keeping her from moving off the couch.

“ _Ana Maria!_ ” Auston scolds, loud enough for her to hear over her screams. She stops screaming. “If you do not calm down, you are going in a time out,” he says evenly.

She screams louder, in a higher pitch, and throws her cup at his face.

Auston breathes in deep through his nose, and hoists her up on his hip. She’s still fighting him. Auston’s not sure she remembers why, anymore. They get to the kitchen and she starts fighting harder the closer they get to her chair in the corner of the kitchen. Brian, who is sitting at the kitchen table, watches Auston pass with a smirk on his face.

Auston sits her down in the chair, where she immediately tries to get up again. “Ana Maria, if you do not sit in that chair until I tell you, you are going straight to bed after this.”

“ _No!_ ” Ana screams.

“I know, I don’t want you to go to bed either. I want to hang out with you, don’t you want to hang out with me, too?” Auston asks. Ana gives the tiniest of nods though her eyes are still leaking and her face is still flushed. “Then you better stay in that chair until your time is up, sí?” She nods again, but crosses her arms and pouts. Auston stands up and pulls his phone out. He sets the timer to two minutes and looks back at Ana. “Okay, cariño, I’ll be back in two minutes, okay?” She nods again.

Auston turns his back and walks over to the dining room table to sit with his dad. Brian is still smirking at him, and his shoulders ad trembling, as if he’s _laughing_ at Auston too, which—rude.

“I hope I was an awful child,” Auston mutters, crossing his arms on the table in front of him.

“Not you,” Brian tells him. “But your younger sister was _much_ worse than Ana.”

Auston cringes. He remembers some of that. “Fair.”

“You’re doing fine, son.”

Auston groans and drops his head to rest his forehead on his forearms. “I feel so bad sometimes,” he mumbles. “She’s just a kid. But—I hate when I can’t make her feel better and have to make her feel _worse_.”

Brian nods. “It sucks. But—she’s a good kid, Auston. She’s smart, she’s happy, she’s healthy. She’s not perfect, though.”

“Neither am I,” Auston bemoans, lifting his head back up. “How do you know when you’re making the right decision?”

“You don’t,” Brian tells him truthfully. “But everyone makes mistakes, and if they were mistakes in the long run, they were probably one of only a few options at the time, or what felt right at the time. And even if something was a mistake but it felt right at the time, there’s nothing you can do to change that. Trust yourself more than any parenting book out there. You know your kid better than anyone else.”

“But I—“

Auston’s phone chimes, and he pushes himself to his feet. He walks over to Ana and crouches in front of her. She looks less red in the face. “How you feel, mija?”

“Bien,” she answers. “Perdón.”

“Do you know what you are saying sorry for?” Auston asks. There was a time several months ago when she knew what apologies were, but didn’t know why she was apologizing.

“I hit you with sippy,” she tells him.

“Okay. Do you know why you were in time out?” Ana nods. “Can you tell me?”

“I telled at you.”

Auston nods. “You _yelled_ at me.”

“I yelled at you,” she corrects herself.

Auston grins. He reaches forward and grabs both of her hands in one of his. “Good. You ready to come out of time out?” She nods furiously. “Okay. Te quiero, Ana.”

“Quiero, Papá,” she grins, and then slips her hands from his and out of the chair.

Auston moves to follow her as she runs from the kitchen. He’s stopped by his dad calling his name. Auston turns to look at him. Brian is smiling. “You may not think you’re perfect, but I do.”

Auston can barely contain his happiness at that and doesn’t bother trying to stop himself from smiling. He nods at his dad before disappearing from the room.

**;

“Hey,” Auston begins. Ana glances up at him until she realizes he’s not talking to her, and as she looks down, Mitch snaps his head up to look at Auston. He cocks his head to the side in question. “I wanna introduce Ana to the guys soon. You wanna help?”

Mitch’s perks up instantly. “Uh, _yes_ ,” he says, sitting up straight in his chair. “When?”

Auston starts combing his fingers through his hair as he looks at their game schedule on his phone. It’s the day before their game against Minnesota, and they’ve already gone and returned from practice. After the Wild, they head to Boston, and then come back home for a five game home stand. He tugs at a few strands of his hair. He could do one of their off days when they still have practice, probably, but—

“Papá,” Ana scolds when she notices Auston’s hands in his hair, “stop it.”

Mitch looks between the two of them, looking ready to laugh at Auston for being scolded by his four-year-old daughter, but unsure. Auston rolls his eyes and apologizes to Ana. Appeased, she turns away and Auston turns to Mitch. “My mom always tells me to stop messing with my hair. Ana picked up on that.”

“Good,” Mitch says. “You’ll be bald soon enough even without rushing the process along.”

Auston looks over at Ana to check on her, and holds up a middle finger at Mitch once he sees her head down and focused on the Rubik’s Cube that she wanted in the check out line at the store (it was a puzzle, of course Auston would get that for her. Brain games and all that).

“Maybe—what if we had my dad bring her in on Monday, the day after our game against the Avs. We’ll have practice but don’t play the Sharks until Tuesday. I’d have to talk to Babs first, but. She can skip a day of pre-school for this.”

Mitch nods along. “You were gonna bring her to practice?”

“Yeah, should I not?”

“No, you definitely should,” Mitch says. “It’d be cool for her to watch.”

Auston nods. “I think she’d like it, too. She likes meeting new people usually.”

“Oh?” Mitch wonders as he turns to Ana. He reaches over and drums his fingers on the table in front of her face to get her attention. “What do you think, Ana?” Mitch asks her, eyes flicking between her and Auston. “You wanna meet your Papá’s friends?”

Ana looks up. “Okay.” Her eyes go back to her Rubik’s cube in the same breath.

And, well.

That’s that.

**;

Because Auston is better at nothing (except maybe hockey) than procrastinating, he has to stop Babs on his way out of the room the night after their loss to Colorado.

“Hey,” Auston nods. “I don’t know if this is a bad time—Ana wanted to meet everyone. I was thinking about bringing her and my dad to practice tomorrow if that’s alright?”

Babs nods once. “Yeah. When?”

“I was gonna bring her in before practice to meet them so she could watch but the guys wouldn’t be too riled up when they see her on the glass. That okay?”

“Of course,” Babs nods. His smile turns wry. “They’re gonna need something to look forward to after practice tomorrow.”

Oh. Well, okay.

**;

The next day, it’s decidedly less okay. Ana has never met this many people before at once, and Auston—he’s freaking out. His dad is hanging back for a few minutes before he’ll come to take Ana, so Auston is left alone with Mitch just outside the locker room. Auston stares at the door. “Can you just—get their attention? And make sure like, everyone is decently dressed?”

Mitch looks back at Auston. He turns his body to face them, and nods. “Of course, dude,” he says. “Just—calm down. You’re fine. They’re gonna love her.”

And—Auston knows Mitch is right. Ana is currently drowsing on his shoulder, holding her husky plush tight to her chest. There’s no way that anyone _couldn’t_ fall in love with her right now, but—he’s never been afraid of people disliking Ana. It’s just… the questions, really.

He doesn’t have time to think much more, however, as Mitch shoves his way through the door. “Hey guys,” he greets loudly. Guys around the room call out to him—most chirping him on his tardiness, but. “Can—all of you just keep quiet? There’s someone we want you to meet.”

Auston’s heart squeezes a bit at the ‘we’—that Mitch has become so involved in Ana’s life in just the month and half he’s known her. He hears grumbling from inside the room, assumes it’s the team trying to be quiet while their curiosity is bubbling. Auston takes a deep breath and walks towards the door.

“Also,” Mitch adds as Auston is about to enter. “Do not swear.”

Auston laughs, and walks in—Ana coming to in his arms after his laughing woke her up. She’s holding her stuffed dog in a vice grip, and once she raises her head and spots Mitch, starts waving it towards him. And, well—Auston doesn’t want her to start crying, is the thing (she’s cranky after naps), so when she reaches for Mitch and Mitch turns to her, Auston hands her over, quick.

Now, however, he’s left defenseless and—he wants Ana back, screaming and crying or not. He looks around the room at everyone’s confused faces and he grimaces. “Uh—“ he tries, but he’s—stuck. He starts running his fingers through his hair and shifting foot to foot and he’s about to start talking, really, he is but—

“Papá,” Ana frowns. “Stop it.”

He hears someone choke on either air or their spit at her words, but he drops his hand to his sides and gives a nod of apology to Ana.

“Oh my god,” Willy fake whispers, “they adopted a kid.”

There’s a quick whoosh of breath and a small “ _ohf_ ” as someone elbows Willy in the side. Auston looks over and Hymie is bringing his arm back into his lap, still staring at Ana with an unchanged look of interest on his face. Auston knows who his favorite line mate is now, at least.

“Ana is my daughter,” he begins as he motions to her, “and she wanted to meet you all.”

In the next few seconds, Auston can only relate it to the ending of _Iron Man_ , though it’s not nearly the same level. Still, everyone starts talking at once, asking questions, and several teammates stand up, most likely to get a closer look.

But, like. Ana _just_ woke up and doesn’t know where she is and doesn’t know who anyone is, so when she looks around the room when the noise starts and sees all the men in padded gear that are all talking to be heard over each other—well.

She looks at Auston and then up at Mitch in front of her, pouting, and her eyes go glossy. She lets out a small, choked sob that Auston knows is just a preview, and then buries her head into Mitch’s chest as she wails. The room falls silent.

Auston is by Mitch’s side immediately, stroking Ana’s hair and whispering to her, and Mitch is hugging her tight, and letting her ruin his shirt with her tears and snot. Auston looks up to see how Mitch is doing, and—he’s glaring around the room. “When I said be quiet, I meant _the whole time_ ,” he snaps.

Ana continues to cry into Mitch, fisting his shirt into her hand. She drops her husky and Auston moves to pick it up, but Bozie is across the room and picking it up faster than Auston can bend down. He grabs the stuffed dog and motions at Ana, asking silently if it’s okay, and Auston reluctantly nods. Bozie is one of the only two other dads in the room right now, even if he hasn’t dealt with a four-year-old yet (his son just turned _one_ for fucks sake), so Auston is hoping Bozie is the right person to start off with. As long as he doesn’t fuck up.

Tyler moves to Mitch’s other side and ducks his head in. “Hey,” he coos at Ana. Ana cries again, but Auston keeps petting her hair, so he’s able to feel her head twitch in Bozie’s direction. “Hey, Ana,” he tries again. “You dropped this.”

Ana turns enough so she can peek out at the man next to her, and when she spots her dog, she stops crying and reaches for it, concerned. Bozie hands it over happily. Auston takes advantage of her pause in crying. “What do you say, mija?”

“Gracias,” she thanks him.

Bozie grins. “De nada.”

Ana perks up. She’s unused to people she doesn’t know speaking Spanish back to her. Auston thinks this might be one of the first times, if not _the_ first, it has happened. She looks up to Mitch, and then back to Auston. Both of them give her a nod. She turns to Bozie. “Me llamo Ana,” she introduces herself. “¿Eres amigo de Papá?”

Bozie blinks and flicks his eyes to Auston. “Eh, sí.” He checks with Auston to make sure he answered correctly, and Auston nods. “Me llamo Tyler. It’s nice to meet you, Ana.”

Ana smiles a small smile. “You too.”

They’ll be fine.

(After practice it’s much more organized and calm and everyone is nice when they take their turn saying hi to her. Auston isn’t surprised but is also relieved when Mitch ends up being right: everyone loves her.)

**;

Mitch meets Auston early in the morning the night after they lose to the Sharks in a shoot out. Ana has to be at school by eleven, and practice today is at noon. Mitch offered Brian a day off, and Brian happily took it, leaving as soon as Auston was awake. Ana’s only at school for four hours, but their practices only run two, so they’ll have enough time to pick her up.

Mitch offers to help when Auston realizes he forgot to grab Ana’s juice box for her breakfast, and jumps up and heads to the cabinet. He comes back and moves in between Auston and Ana and sets down the juice—straw already poked through—in front of Ana and ruffles her hair. Ana looks up at him. “Gracias, Daddy.”

Auston blinks, takes a sip of his coffee, and then looks at Mitch. Mitch’s eyes are wide and he’s staring at Ana in shock. Auston doesn’t really know what to do right now, so he takes another sip of his coffee. The things Ana say still outwardly faze Mitch, but Auston—he can at least appear chill. He might not be, but no one has to know that.

Auston sets his mug down and looks at Ana. “Ana, mi gracia, _I_ am your daddy.”

Ana pauses her scribbling to look up at him. She scowls. “No, you’re my _papá_. Not my daddy.”

“Oh?” Auston asks her. “Then why is Mitch your daddy?”

“He helps me like my friends daddies at school!” she tells him, her tone making it seem like it should be obvious. “And cooks for me, and tucks me in to bed—“

“Cariño, I do all of that, too. More than Mitch.”

“Sí, but you’re my _papá_. You can’t be my daddy.”

Auston glances up at Mitch, and furrows his eyebrows. “You know our secret language?” Auston asks in a whisper. Ana nods. “ _Papá_ is _daddy_ in it.”

Ana shakes her head. She points at Auston. “ _Papá_.”

Auston closes his eyes, and breathes out through his nose. “Sí, Ana, soy Papá. I am also _daddy_.”

Ana shakes her head and points at Mitch. “ _Daddy_.”

Auston looks at Mitch helplessly, who is still frozen. “Okay,” Auston agrees.

Mitch stares down at her, and then looks at Auston with wide eyes when Auston says okay. Auston reaches up and pats Mitch’s hip in a comforting move. Mitch moves closer. “I’m sorry,” he murmurs, soft and discreet. “I didn’t—“

“Mitchy, it’s fine,” he tells him as he stands up, nodding his head sideways towards the sink. Mitch follows. “I’d rather her be calling someone I know her dad than a stranger.”

“But—“

“Do you want me to make her stop? I will, but it doesn’t bother me. If you’re uncomfortable I’ll tell her no.”

“She doesn’t call me Mitch,” Mitch shrugs. They’re still talking quietly so Ana won’t bother listening in. “I guess it’s better than not having a name. And you know I love her. I’d do anything for her—I just. I don’t want to take that name away from _you_ , y’know?”

“Ugh, please do,” Auston frowns. “Papá is good—daddy sounds so— _childish_.”

Mitch drops his jaw. “She’s _four years old_ , Auston!”

“And she can be called whatever she wants,” Auston agrees. “But _I_ don’t want to be called something so childish. Fits you perfectly though.”

“Hey!” Mitch yells, laughing as he reaches to shove at Auston.

**;

Going into Christmas break, they pick it up. Auston gets a goal against Colorado and Mitch gets three assists, and then in the next game— _in Arizona_ , Auston gets a point.

It’s not a goal, and it’s not perfect, but it’s an assist against his hometown team with all of his friends and family in the crowd and he’s—happy.

He’s decidedly less happy when it comes time to part with Mitch for the holiday break. Ana flew out with Auston’s dad the night before and they decide to not let her see Mitch before he leaves. Auston has told Mitch of her upset at his sudden disappearances sometimes and they don’t want to risk that and ruin the holiday cheer. Still, it feels wrong. Mitch is— _Mitch_. Auston isn’t sure what it is about Mitch, but he doesn’t want him to leave without saying goodbye. And, well.

He just doesn’t want him to leave.

But Mitch has a family to get home to, to spend time with for the holidays, no matter how much Auston would prefer dragging him home to his parents’ house and watching him watch Ana open her gifts on Christmas morning, and eat dinner with him, and—

Mitch is easy to miss, Auston figures. He’s not looking forward to the next few days.

**;

Christmas is mostly a quiet affair. Ana gets to open one gift early, and then gets riled up, tearing through the house and yelling about Santa. After breakfast she mellows out enough that Auston feels good enough to start handing her the rest of her gifts.

She tears through them and Auston takes note of her favorites—so he knows which ones to bring back to Toronto and which ones to leave for summertime.

It’s just after eleven when someone rings the doorbell. Auston looks around the room to see who is moving to answer it, but everyone else looks just as confused. Ana is the only one who jumps up excitedly and runs to the door. Auston hops up and runs after her, and scoops her up before she can reach for the door handle. “Espera, mija,” Auston scolds. “Never open the door without me, sí?”

Ana huffs. “Sí, Papá.”

“Thank you,” Auston says. He reaches for the handle and pulls it open. Ana is wriggling in his arms and when she can see the other person, shrieks.

“ _Rachel!_ ” she yells. She starts wriggling more with a vengeance, trying to get out of Auston’s arms. Auston sighs and sets her down, and watches as she runs over to her mother.

“Hi, Ana,” Rachel grins. “How are you?”

“Santa came!”

“ _Did_ he?” Rachel gasps. “Did he bring you what you wanted?”

Ana nods vigorously. “Yes!”

The two of them start a rapid-fire conversation that Auston doesn’t bother paying attention to, because he’s pretty sure Ana is just recounting the entire morning. He’s already lived through it and Ana has a way of talking about even the most boring thing for a few minutes.

Instead, he steps back and waves Rachel in, who looks up and smiles at him. She picks up Ana, who doesn’t stop her constant stream of mumbling about her morning, and heads in the house towards the dining room.

He takes the time that he has free to take out his phone. There are a few texts waiting—the team group chat, a smaller group chat of his closer friends from USNDP, a few individuals, and then Mitch. Mitch is in his own group because he texted him _twelve_ times, and Auston can do nothing but roll his eyes as he opens the other messages, saving Mitch’s for last.

When he does get to them, he can stop a smile from stretching across his face.

_tell ana that santa stopped by toronto, too_

_wait you guys *do* santa, right?_

_wait she told me about santa, yeah you do_

_i may have gotten her some things i forgot_

_if you don’t mind_

_holy shit also hey yeah merry christmas_

_feliz navidad!!!!_

_see i told you i’m learning i didn’t even have to use google translate for that one_

_tell ema and brian that too (the feliz navidad, not that i didn’t have to use translate)_

_wait tell them that too!!!!!!!!_

_also your sisters_

_and ana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

Auston laughs as he reads through them.

_Feliz Navidad a ti también, Marns. Ana te extraña._

Mitch responds almost immediately: _i miss her too!!!_

Auston smiles, and slips his phone back into his pocket. He makes his way into the dining room where Ana has tapered off her Christmas babble and is now scribbling on her drawing supplies that are always set up when she’s here.

“Hey, Rach,” Auston greets her. He walks over to the chairs and puts his hands on the back of one and leans into it. Rachel smiles at him.

“Hi. Sorry to just drop in. I had a little something for Ana and I didn’t know the timeline of your visit home, but I figured at the very least you’d be here today.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” he assures her. “We had breakfast and Ana opened her presents and now we’re just hanging for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, I got that first part from Ana. I think.”

He laughs, and steps back from the chair so he can pull it out. He sits down, across from Rachel and Ana. “How’ve you been?”

“Good,” Rachel tells him. “I got in to University of Michigan for my pharmacy program. And OSU, and Florida. I’d love to go to Florida, but Michigan has a better program. _How_ do you deal with the cold?”

Auston grins. “You get used to it.”

The both watch as Ana slips from her seat and runs into the living room. Rachel stares for a moment, and then glowers at Auston. “I don’t _want_ to get used to _the cold_ , Auston. I was born in _Texas_ and raised in _Arizona_. I’ve never seen snow in person and I am _twenty-one years old_.”

“Then go to Florida.”

“But UM is ranked higher.”

“Then go to UM.”

“But it’s _cold_.”

Auston narrows his eyes. “Then drop out of college.”

Rachel sits back in her chair and tosses her hands up. “ _Finally_ a reasonable suggestion.” She keeps her face serious for another moment as she looks at Auston. She breaks into a grin. She sits back up in her chair and leans her elbows on the table. “I applied at Chapel Hill, too. They’re supposed to be the best in the country, and they’re in North Carolina, so I think I can deal with that. But I haven’t heard back yet.”

Auston snorts. “Come on. You’ll get in.”

Rachel shrugs. “Maybe. But I also think it would be cool to go to Ann Arbor and see where Ana got to grow up.”

“If you ever really, actually want to see it, we’ll go there. I’ll take you. You’re not accepting UM until you’ve actually been rejected from Chapel Hill though, which I personally don’t think is going to happen. If it’s the best, you have to go there. I don’t care if you’re scared of it.”

Rachel smiles. “Yeah, sure. Thank you.”

He hesitates. “Do you really wanna see where she grew up?”

She shrugs. “I think it’d be kind of nice, you know? Like—I’m still invested in her life, you know. I just—I couldn’t—“

“Yeah.”

“But you—look at _everything_ you’ve done, Aus,” Rachel says, and he thinks her voice is either a little overwhelmed or disbelieving. “You _raised_ that little girl, even when you were gone, even when you were in a different country, even when you were so tired from hockey that you couldn’t think straight. You’re doing incredible. I don’t—don’t take this the wrong way—but I don’t envy you. I still stand by my decision. But I’m _so_ proud of you.”

Auston feels his face get hot. “My parents help a lot.”

“I don’t care,” she says. “Ana gets to have you in her life, and she is so lucky, you know that?” There’s a pause where Auston doesn’t know what to say, but Rachel, she keeps going. “For you to tell me to stop looking at couples because you were going to take her, I thought you were crazy, Auston. I couldn’t tell you no, but I never thought you could do it—not until Alex told me you’d been staying up all night reading parenting books, trying to find the best furniture for her, doing everything you could. People always told me that I’d immediately love the baby, and I just didn’t. And you did, even though the kid had the chance to fuck your life so much harder than mine, and you weren’t carrying her. But—look at you guys, Aus. You’re incredible.”

Auston blushes a deep red. “You’re right,” he agrees, “I wasn’t carrying her. That might be why I loved her so much. She didn’t make me sick for nine months straight.”

Rachel rolls her eyes. “Shut up,” she tells him. “Just—I’m so glad that you kept her. She’s good for you.”

Now _that_ Auston can agree with. “She is,” he grins. “She just—is perfect, and she loves me unconditionally. It’s hard to have that sometimes because it’s like—she’ll love me even when I mess up, but I think that’s the most amazing thing. She loves me no matter what, and trusts me, even if I don’t do something right. After time-out I tell her I love her, and she says she loves me, and then—she’s just her happy self again and nothing bad ever happened. If I have a bad game, she doesn’t judge me for it, she just—asks me if I had fun. That’s it. No talk about the game, no talk about a missed opportunity. Just, ‘did you have fun?’ I think as long as she keeps reminding me that I’m supposed to be having fun, the answer will always be yes.”

Rachel reaches across the table and grabs his hand. “Thank you. Even if I don’t want to be her mom, I only want what’s best for her, and that’s you. Even if you have to raise her in subarctic temperatures.”

Auston rolls his eyes. “It’s not that bad. Why don’t you come to Toronto with us?”

She blinks. “What?”

“For—there’s a game coming up. It’s called the Centennial Classic. It’s an outdoor game and me and another teammate of mine got a suite for the games so our kids don’t have to sit out in the cold. I can get you in that suite, too. You can spend some time with Ana for a few days, see where she’s living, where she’s going to be growing up. I can pay for your flights, you can stay in my apartment—my dad is staying at the hotel with my family. You can have his room.”

“Auston…”

“You don’t have to. I just—figured you might enjoy it.”

Rachel pauses and looks at her hands. “I would. I—sure. I will.”

Auston perks up. “Really?”

Rachel laughs. “Yes, really.”

“Okay, we’ll—get that before you leave since I don’t have my phone on me to get your tickets, but—we should have Ana open her gift from you now before she completely forgets about it,” Auston offers.

Rachel nods. “Yeah.”

The find Ana sitting in Alex’s lap and flipping through one of her new books as Alex reads over her shoulder. They both look up when Auston and Rachel come in. Ana starts bouncing in Alex’s lap asking for her present, and Alex doesn’t look comfortable. Auston laughs and swoops in to rescue his sister by lifting his daughter from her lap and taking her to the open love seat where the three of them can sit together. Rachel pulls out a long, thin box from her bag and hands it to Ana.

“Now, this is something you have to take care of, can you do that?”

Ana stares at Rachel with wide eyes and nods very seriously.

“Okay,” Rachel says. “Go on and open it.”

Auston watches as Ana tears through the tissue paper to reveal a jewelry box. She fumbles with the lid, but Auston helps her lift it, and then she _oooohs_ at the bracelet inside the box.

“This bracelet is for you to keep track of where you’ve been, and where you came from,” Rachel explains—even though Auston’s pretty sure Ana can’t grasp that concept yet—removing it from the box for Ana. Auston looks closer and notices several different charms. When he looks closer, he can identify at least California and Michigan. When Rachel holds it up, it makes more sense.

There are four charms in a black-ish silver tint—Mexico, California, Texas, and of course, Arizona. All are paying homage to Ana’s roots—to her parents. Following those, the rest are in simple silver. Michigan comes next—the first place she lived after she left Arizona, and then Switzerland, and now Ontario.

Once Rachel is done explaining it to Ana, she clips it on Ana’s wrist (who then jingles it around excitedly), and then digs through her bag again. She comes out with a business card, and hands it to Auston. “If you want to keep this up, here’s who I bought the charms from. She can make any state, providence, country… And when the bracelet is too small for Ana, you can get a new one there, too.”

Auston nods in thanks, and looks back at the bracelet. He wonders for a moment why he wishes the Ontario charm were darkened and moved up with the others blackened-silver charms. He shakes his head and tucks the business card away in his wallet, saving the thought for another time.

**;

Alex and Breyana take Ana to lunch the next day, leaving Auston with his afternoon completely free. He saw his friends a few days ago—after the game against the Coyotes when his parents took Ana home and put her right to sleep—and will see them again, this time with Ana, tomorrow. So—he’s just taking advantage of the quiet, now.

He’s lounging on the couch texting Mitch pictures of Ana with her gifts and reading through Mitch’s excitement when his mom approaches him.

“Who is that?” she wonders.

Auston looks up, smile consuming his entire face. His phone goes off again. Mitch is complaining about Ana’s new figure skates. Auston just laughs and texts back _They’re easier for kids. You learned to skate in them probably_. He looks back to his mom. “Uh—Mitch.”

“Mijo,” his mom says seriously as soon as Auston says Mitch’s name. Auston raises his eyebrows. “You know you can tell us anything, right?”

The smile drops off of Auston’s face. “Yes?”

Ema sighs. “Okay. I just want you to remember that.”

“I do,” Auston promises.

His phone goes off again. _lies!!!! easy is for children, how insulted must ana be that you think her a *child*, matts._

Auston snorts. _You’re right, she’s not a child. I’ll get her hockey skates. I’ll find some figure skates in your size, though. I don’t think these ones will fit you._

His mom sighs, and turns away. Auston frowns after her, confused, but then his phone goes off again ( _i am not a child wtf dude. i wear big boy skates_ ) and his attention focuses back to that.

They keep bouncing back and forth over text for another hour, mostly about Ana skating and how Mitch wants to take her and—it makes something twist in his gut for the rest of the day.

“I want to take her to skate,” Auston tells his dad that night, once Ana has been put to sleep. They’re sitting at opposite ends of the couch—Brian is on his laptop and Auston is fucking around on his phone. Mostly scrolling through his conversation with Mitch about taking Ana skating. “Like—family skate.”

Brian pauses his typing and raises his eyebrows. “Oh?”

Auston nods. “I’m not leaving Toronto for at least seven more years most likely, and I’ll be happy if I’m there longer. I don’t want anyone to think I was ever scared or ashamed of telling anyone about Ana. And—I think she’d enjoy skate a lot.”

Brian smiles. He leans across the couch and claps a hand on Auston’s shoulder. “I agree with you,” he says. “You just might want to tell someone before skate, since it’s closed to any reporters but not photographers.”

Honestly, this is why he has his parents. He… doesn’t think that far ahead.

**;

He shows off his skill of Not Thinking That Far Ahead after their overtime win in Tampa Thursday night. He… well, he tells someone, but he’s not sure he goes about it the right way. He doesn’t really care, because it gets the job done.

He’s doing his media after the game when he gets the chance and he just—takes it.

“Now that this one’s over, the focus turns to the Centennial Classic, what are you looking forward to, being a part of that?”

“Yeah, definitely. It’s gonna be great—most of us will have our families there which is going to be really special. It’s gonna be the first full game as a Leaf that my daughter, Ana, sees since she fell asleep last two times my dad tried to take her, so hopefully she’ll stay awake a bit better for the day game, unless she’s just bored by the game,” Auston chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s gonna be great milestone game for the sport though, I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”

“Daughter?” he hears from his right side. He turns to look at the reporter and nods and affirmative. “How old?”

“She uh—she just recently turned four.”

There are small noises from each of the reporters, but his grin doesn’t drop—it’s out.

The reporters wish him luck, and he thanks them. As soon as the semi-circle around him breaks, he leaves to find Mitch. Unsurprisingly, Mitch is stuck in a bickering match with Marty, but—Auston literally feels like he’s vibrating with excitement. He keeps walking towards them until Mitch hears or sees him and looks up with a smile. Auston smiles back. “What’s up?”

“I just finished media and told them about Ana,” he says. His voice sounds—tight? He’s happy and he’s relieved, but like—he also feels like it’s a little hard to breathe. The information is going to be out there for everyone to see when before the closest speculation was a picture of him crouching down to talk to Ana in the convenient store around the block from their apartment. But—it’s out there for _everyone_ and he never has to tell anyone in the hockey world again.

Mitch’s eyes light up. “Dude!” he yells, while Marty reaches out his fist for a fist bump. Auston bumps his fist gladly.

“I know!”

“How the fuck did that go?”

“I think I shocked them in to silence,” Auston grins. “It was the last question I answered. Well—some dude just went—‘daughter?’ and I said yes, obviously.”

“ _Dude_ ,” Mitch repeats. “You _have_ to bring her to skate now!”

“Yeah, _of course_ , yeah” Auston nods. “That was the point of telling them, so I could take her.”

“I call dibs on first skate with her.”

Marty scoffs from beside Mitch. “Let the dude skate with his kid, Mitch.”

Mitch shakes his head. “Nope. No can do. He’s definitely gone skating with her before, I, on the other hand, have not.”

Auston rolls his eyes. “You can have dibs on her skate after she goes around with me and my parents a few times.”

Mitch pulls one corner of his lips to the side and tilts his head, considering. “Alright,” he agrees. “Fair. But like, for the rest of the day.”

Auston laughs and nods, because well, it’s because of the conversation with Mitch that he did this, so. “Fair.”

**;

Rachel lands on the 29th with Auston’s family, and doesn’t come to skate the next day, instead opts to explore Toronto. Instead, he’s skating around backwards, beckoning Ana to him the entire time.

He is fully expecting Mitch to be waiting on the sidelines for his turn, and he’s right. As soon as Auston and his family stop their laps around the rink, Mitch makes a beeline towards them.

“Ana, who’s that?” Auston asks her when he spots maroon pants in the midst of the monotone colors. He point over at Mitch. He’s skating over with a smile on his face. His beanie is pulled down low over his eyebrows and his scarf is covering his chin and—Ana shies away from him. Auston sighs. “Ana, that’s Mitchy.”

Ana looks at Auston and then back at Mitch, but curls in closer to Auston still. Mitch stops in front of them, and squats down on his skates carefully so she can see beyond his scarf. “Hola, mija,” Mitch says. Ana’s head snaps up and Mitch pouts. “Won’t you come say hi?”

“ _Daddy_!” she yells happily, striding over until she slams into Mitch. Mitch, to his credit, does not fall on his ass. What a shame.

“Hey, Ana,” Mitch laughs, hugging her tight. “I missed you, cariño, did you miss me?”

“ _¡Sí!_ ” she yells. And, just like that, she’s off, telling him all about her day so far. Mitch will get around to asking about Christmas soon enough, Auston’s sure, which will take up another ten minutes of their time, too.

“Did she just call him daddy?” Bonnie asks, startling Auston as she skates up behind him, voice clearly confused.

Auston turns to look at her. She’s watching her son with mild interest and—something that looks similar to horror. (Auston wouldn’t trust Mitch with a kid if he hadn’t seen how good he was with them first hand, either.) Auston tosses his head back and laughs. “Oh, yeah. I guess some kids were talking about their dads in her class one day and she thought of Mitch.”

Bonnie blinks. “What about you?”

“In some twisted four year old logic, I cannot be both her papá and daddy.”

Now it’s Bonnie’s turn to laugh. “Oh, she sounds precious.”

Auston grins because, well, yeah. “When your son is done hogging her you can go ahead and meet her.”

Bonnie raises her eyebrows. “Oh, I will make him introduce her now.”

Auston pulls a face. “You can try, but Ana’s… _attached_ to him. She hasn’t seen him in over a week. I’d give her some time to be with him.”

“They’re close?” Bonnie wonders curiously. Her eyes are glued to her son and Auston’s daughter.

“Very.”

Bonnie looks like she’s about to cry. Auston doesn’t want to deal with that. He turns and beckons his mom over so she can take over the conversation and then skates off to join Mitch and Ana. On his way over to them, he kind of understands why Bonnie couldn’t look away. Mitch has this—this _radiant_ smile on his face while he talks to Ana. His cheeks are red, his nose is red, his lips are red, but his eyes are _bright_ blue and white, and they haven’t left Ana since she skated up to him. He looks like the picture of happiness, right now.

Auston’s not sure he wants to look away, either.

**;

The one thing that Auston didn’t think about in bringing Rachel back to Toronto was her meeting Mitch. Or, well, more accurately: Mitch meeting her.

There’s a knock at his door the evening after family skate though, and Auston has a guess who it is. Rachel offers to get it since he’s in the middle of getting Ana dressed in her pajamas from her bath and Auston doesn’t really have a choice. “Yeah, sure.”

Rachel gets up and goes to the door, and Auston strains his ears to listen while Ana plays with his hair.

“Hello,” Rachel says. Auston can picture her _nice_ smile. The one he usually doesn’t get.

There’s a pause. “Hi. Uh—I’m so sorry—who are you?”

Definitely Mitch. Auston hurries and pulls on Ana’s shirt, and then hoists her up.

“I’m Rachel,” she introduces herself.

“Oh,” Mitch says and his voice sounds kind, but Auston can catch the bland undertone. It’s the same one Mitch gets when he talks about his dad’s phone calls after a game. He clears his throat and—“I’m Mitch.”

“ _Ooooh_ ,” Rachel perks up, just as Auston leaves Ana’s bedroom. “The _other parent_.”

Auston can see Mitch’s eyebrows furrowing as he rounds the corner. “I—I _think_ I’m supposed to be saying that to you?”

Rachel laughs. “Oh, no. I’m like—the aunt. The aunt that gave birth to her niece.”

Mitch snorts. “Fair enough.”

To drive Rachel’s point home, Ana gasps happily. “Daddy!”

Rachel looks at Mitch and grins a toothy grin, and Mitch doesn’t even notice. He’s staring at Ana and smiling, like she’s all he sees in the moment. When Ana starts reaching for him, he looks to Auston and quirks an eyebrow, and Auston hands his daughter off easily.

Mitch starts talking non-sense about her dinner with her for the next two minutes, and then presses a kiss to her forehead. “I just came by to say hi, mija,” Mitch tells her.

Rachel’s head snaps up and she looks at Auston wide eyed. Auston stares back at her. He’s not sure what’s going on. She looks frustrated, and then turns to Mitch. “Dude, please don’t leave because of me.”

Mitch looks at Rachel. “Oh, no, I don’t want to intru—“

“You’re not,” Rachel cuts him off. “Come on. This is obviously something _I’m_ cutting into, if anything, so, please.”

Mitch sighs, but holds Ana tighter as he toes off his shoes. Ana starts up again—she tells Mitch about her bath, that she got to play in purple water today—her favorite color—and how he missed the magic ball that turned the water different colors. Really, Auston needs to thank Rachel for bath bombs because he can definitely use those for any of the days when Ana is being too stubborn to take a bath. Sure, it takes a little extra work to get her cleaned up, but it seems much easier than fighting her.

Mitch takes it all in like always. He sets her on the couch so he can take his coat off, and then sits next to her. His focus is unbreakable when it comes to Ana’s monologues, so Auston just motions for Rachel to sit down, and does the same himself.

He and Rachel talk amongst themselves quietly while Ana trucks on for the next five minutes. When she stops, it’s because she notices her toys on the ground that Auston hasn’t picked up yet and gets distracted. Mitch watches her go with a sad look on his face. He sits up straight and looks to Auston and Rachel. For the first time since Mitch has started coming to his apartment, Auston thinks that Mitch just—looks uncomfortable.

Rachel doesn’t notice, or she doesn’t care, and she starts quizzing Mitch about his home life, about his friends, and when he’s done answering those (in a practiced tone, like he’s giving an interview and not just spending time in his best friend’s apartment), Rachel tries pressing for stories about Auston and Ana.

Auston can see the moment that Mitch shuts down, so he excuses himself, and goes into the kitchen, beckoning Mitch to follow. Mitch gets up and follows behind with a stoic look on his face.

When they get to the kitchen, Auston turns to him and crosses his arms. “What’s up, man?”

“I’m sorry,” Mitch blurts out.

“What? For what?”

Mitch shrugs and honestly, looks a little miserable. “I just—the past few months I’ve gotten so used to coming over without texting, I shouldn’t have done that. This, like, isn’t actually my family, you know?” Auston wants to fight him on that because Mitch fits in perfectly with them, family or not, and Auston _wants_ him here and—“Like, I just feel like I don’t belong here right now. I shouldn’t be—fucking trying to play house with you or some shit. It’s just so fucking stupid and I’m sorry, okay?”

Auston opens his mouth, fully intending to say something, but he’s not sure what to say. He’s not sure how to say that— _yes_ , he does fit, this is his family, they are his family. That he always belongs with them and Auston really never wants him to leave, ever, but he knows that realistically, Mitch has to. That no one has ever fit so perfectly into their lives, Ana has never loved someone so much, _Auston_ has never loved someone so much.

He’s not sure what that means.

He’s not sure how to say it.

He wishes he could.

“Mitchy—no,” is what he ends up saying. It’s—not nearly enough.

“Aus, yeah,” Mitch retorts. “And it’s fine. I just—think I’m going to go, alright?”

Auston—just—

“Please don’t.”

Mitch smiles, but it looks sad. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

He walks out of the kitchen. “Ana,” he calls. Ana looks up at him. “I’m gonna leave now, okay?”

Ana pouts, but gets up to hug him. He smiles down at her looking _so_ fucking fond and Auston just—never wants him to leave. He feels like Ana, the first time Mitch left when she knew. He wants to throw a fit, but instead he just bites his lip and watches as Ana looks up at Mitch and asks, “tomorrow?”

Mitch nods. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He leans down and kisses the center of the top of her head.

“Quiero,” Ana says, and Auston frowns. She still doesn’t understand tú, te, and ti, but she’ll get there. He’s not concerned about that.

“Love you, too, mija,” Mitch whispers into her hair.

It’s such a familiar gesture between them, and—Auston thinks this can’t be the first time it’s happened. Thinking back, he’s pretty sure he’s seen this happen almost every time Mitch says goodbye to her, but her face is usually buried in his neck, and Mitch whispers much better than Ana does.

He really doesn’t want Mitch to leave, even more so now, but Mitch just looks like he needs to, so Auston watches him wave goodbye to Rachel, slip on his shoes and jacket, and walk out the door.

**;

Rachel watches as Auston puts Ana to bed only a couple hours later and heads out of the room after she gives her a kiss goodnight. Auston stays with her for a little longer, reading her favorite children’s book to her. When he finishes, she’s asleep. He gets up and leaves the room quietly. Rachel is waiting for him as he closes the door behind him. “Auston, I love you, but holy _shit_ , man.”

Auston scowls and makes his way towards the couch, away from the sleeping child’s room before he dares speak. “ _What?_ ”

“You and Mitch!” she huffs. “You’re not dating! And I don’t know why!”

Auston recoils because—what? “What?”

“Oh my god, Aus. Your sister told me your family thinks you’re hiding your relationship from Mitch from them, so you know, I went into it with that thought. But _you’re not even together_ , are you? You guys are so dumb.”

Thinking back—his family definitely thought something was going on over Christmas, and he just brushed it off as them not knowing how to deal with Ana being gone. But he remembers his mom specifically telling him that he could tell her anything, and he responded that he knew. He did know—he trusted his parents and told them _everything_. He would have told them if he and Mitch were dating. If there had even been a possibility of him and Mitch dating.

But, like—there wasn’t. It wasn’t really like that.

“It’s not like that.”

Rachel narrows her eyes. “Auston, you let your daughter call him _dad_.”

“So? She doesn’t like the name Mitch. Or—something.”

“Ema showed me pictures from the family skate, Auston. It was like, all you and him.”

“Mitch loves Ana. And obviously my mom couldn’t take pictures of herself and Ana.”

Rachel glares at him. “Just— _think_ about it, Auston. Think about him living with you and Ana, think about kissing him when you wake up, think about fucking him, think about telling him you love him. Come back to me if you can _honestly_ tell me you _don’t_ want any of those.”

“ _Excuse me?_ ” Auston chokes out.

“No,” Rachel says, and then stands up. “You want a beer?”

Auston glares up at her and slouches down in the couch.

“I’ll bring you one anyways. Maybe the alcohol will help you realize you’re a fucking idiot, too.”

**;

They won the Centennial Classic. Auston scored the game-winning goal in overtime and—now he was sitting next to Mitch in an overdone pressroom with his family off to the side and at least twenty reporters seated in front of him.

He hasn’t stopped thinking about what Rachel said.

The thing is—Auston doesn’t do relationships. He’s slept with some people in the last few years, but—his longest relationship in that time was one that lasted six weeks until they suggested they go to his place, and then demanded to know why not. The whole _kid_ thing didn’t go over well, and he never expected it to. But, again, the point is—he doesn’t do relationships.

Auston hasn’t thought about romance in months, in years, probably. He _wants_ a partner, yeah, but. It was never worth the trouble, so he gave up looking a long time ago.

He’s not looking. He’s _not_.

He remembers his dad telling him that he stopped looking for love only three months before he found Auston’s mom.

(He does have to take a break from that line of thinking once everyone is settled in the pressroom, however.)

They start off with easy questions about the goals, which Auston talks about easily enough. It isn’t until a few questions later, though, that Auston frowns as he hears a short, quiet hiss of ‘ _Ana!_ ’ from the side of the room. He glances over to his dad who is reaching over the tape between the stanchions in front of him. Ana is several feet ahead of his reach and making her way towards Auston. He widens his eyes and holds up a finger to the reporters. She stumbles up the steps and runs at him, climbing in his lap immediately. She grins at him.

“I’m so sorry,” Auston apologizes, his face flushing bright red in embarrassment. He looks to his dad who is now making his way over when—

“It’s fine,” one of the PR workers says, stopping his dad with a hand on his shoulder.

Next to him, Mitch is taking more questions.

Ana pats his chest. “You played hockey?” Auston nods at her. “Did you have fun?”

“I did,” he whispers, trying to avoid attracting any more attention, but when he looks up, everyone is staring at him, even Mitch.

Mitch looks back at the reporters and smirks. “And here we have Ana over here, asking the hard questions,” he teases. He turns back to Auston and gives him a smile. Ana spots him then and shrieks happily, reaching for him. Auston shushes her quickly and she stops the yelling. Auston and Mitch smile at each other again, and then turn back to the reporters.

Ana starts back up when Auston’s attention is off of her. “Daddy,” Ana tries to whisper, wiggling in Auston’s grip as she tries to reach for Mitch. Auston goes to hand her off to Mitch, and—

Mitch is staring at him with wide eyes. Auston is confused for a second, but then he hears murmuring in the crowd of reporters because—the microphone definitely picked that up. Auston kind of wants to laugh because PR probably let her stay up with him to give off his fatherly image since this is so new, but they probably weren’t expecting it to cause any backfire. This… definitely will.

Auston shrugs and passes her over to Mitch. Mitch immediately smiles down at her and whispers something in her ear. Auston—can’t look at that right now, so he turns his attention back to the reporters.

“Are you two in a relationship?”

Auston has to hand it to him—he’s definitely more daring than the other twenty odd reporters who just look confused and uncomfortable.

“No,” Auston answers in a level voice. “She doesn’t think I can be her papá _and_ her dad. She found someone to call dad and—she won’t call him Mitch so I think it’s the best we’re gonna get.”

He can see a few reporters in the crowd with fond smiles on their faces as they watch Mitch and Ana and, well, same. He looks over and feels his face soften, feels his shoulders loosen, and feels his legs relax.

Rachel… might have been right.

Auston isn’t slow on the uptake, typically but, well. He’s always known from day one that Mitch was his favorite person on his team, and it hasn’t changed. Yes, he’s closer with all the other guys now, too, but Mitch remains the one who has always just _understood_ Auston’s sense of humor and been able to go back and forth with him for hours.

When Mitch met Ana, he stumbled oh so slightly, but regained his footing and came to be one of the most important people in Ana’s life. It’s easy to see that, the way that she’s looking at him now, toothy smile and bright eyes directed at him. And Mitch never even faltered after that first day—that first _hour_. Sure, he asked Auston for what was acceptable and what wasn’t, but he took everything in stride and did his best to be someone that Ana could look up to and who she could trust.

Mitch always… _knew_ what to be. He could always tell when the mood needed to be lightened with a joke or if someone needed to be comforted first and foremost. He could tell when Auston needed help and when Auston needed to push through it on his own. Mitch is a lot—most people call him a hurricane—but he is never _too much_ , and he always knows the right time to stop.

But mostly, Mitch is—Auston’s.

Mitch is Auston’s, and Auston—he doesn’t want to give him up.

Auston thinks he found Mitch, just like his dad found his mom.

**;

“Hey, dad,” Auston says just outside the pressroom. He’s lost sight of Mitch already while trying to navigate the crowds while carrying a four year old. “Can you take Ana for a few?”

His dad nods. “Where are you going? Where should we meet you?”

Auston shrugs. “I’ll text you. I gotta go find Mitch.”

“You don’t want Ana?”

“No,” Auston answers. “I need to talk to him about some stuff.”

Brian blinks, and then laughs. He reaches over to grab Ana from Auston and shoos him away. “I’ll make sure to tell your mom,” he tells Auston. “She’ll be relieved you weren’t lying.”

Auston wants to roll his eyes, but—they were smarter than him. He can’t blame them for thinking he was hiding it. He’s never been particularly slow before, but, well, he was an idiot, here.

He finds Bonnie before Mitch. “Hi, Bonnie,” Auston greets. “Are you guys heading out?”

“Not for a few,” she tells him. “We’re still waiting for Paul’s side of the family to find us.”

“Great,” he says, a little frantically. “Where’s Mitch?”

**;

“Mitchy,” Auston says several minutes later, coming up behind him and—someone. Probably a family friend or a family member. Auston really doesn’t care right now. He grabs just above Mitch’s elbow before Mitch can even fully turn around, and apologizes to the person that he was talking to before dragging Mitch away.

“What the fuck,” Mitch growls at Auston. He’s following behind anyways instead of trying to get away though, so Auston will count it as a success for the time being.

“I need to talk to you,” Auston tells him. He pulls Mitch into an abandoned hallway, and then down another off of that hallway. He’s not sure he’s going to be able to find his way back.

“It couldn’t _wait?_ ” Mitch grumbles.

“Nope—adrenaline, y’know? Helps. With—this.”

“With _what?_ ”

Auston stops in his tracks, so quickly that Mitch runs in to him. Auston drops Mitch’s arm and looks at him. Mitch is staring back at him with confused eyes and the silence stretches on.

Auston thinks he used up all of his adrenaline trying to find a place to talk or something, because he’s at a loss, now. His shoulders deflate. He’s not sure what to do now, but he still needs to talk to Mitch. And he doesn’t want to celebrate this game without him. He sighs. “Mitch—just. Come out with us. And then—just. Come home with us. Just—“

“Auston, just—stop, okay?” Mitch demands. “Let Ana go be with her mom, you go be with Rachel and just—have a good night while you’re at it.”

Auston furrows his eyebrows. “You don’t think Rachel and I—“

“ _No_ , Aus, I don’t. But Rachel is Ana’s _mother_. You’re going out with your _family_. I—why would I be there? I don’t belong there.”

“Yes you do,” Auston argues. “Just like you did the other night.”

“ _No_ , Auston. _Stop_. Rachel is _literally_ Ana’s flesh and blood—and I’m just—the guy she decided to call her dad.” Mitch steps back from Auston. “I love Ana, but I don’t belong there.”

“Mitchy—you’ve been more involved in Ana’s life since you met her than Rachel has _ever_ been. Ana sees Rachel in the summer a few times, and a few times a year, if that, and Skypes her on the more important days—birthdays and all that. We have to do that so Ana _doesn’t forget who Rachel is_. But Rachel has never been a constant besides maybe three weeks the first summer I was home when Rachel realized that she made the right decision. Ana is more interested in Rachel because she’s _new_ right now. She’s more interested in Rachel than me, too, but when Rachel is gone, she doesn’t ask for her beyond the next day, if that. When you leave, every night she asks where you went. Every day she asks where you are. I don’t care if you _think_ you don’t belong, you always do. You belong to Ana _and_ to me, Mitchy. Or—with us.”

Mitch shakes his head. “No, Auston. I don’t.”

“Wh—“

“Look, I love Ana, but—one day you’re going to find someone who is _actually_ going to be her other parent, and I’ll always be over stepping boundaries then. One day I’d come over without letting you know, and you wouldn’t open the door, _Rachel_ or whoever you make your family with— _they_ will be there. She’s not my daughter, you’re not my boyfriend, you guys aren’t _actually_ my family. And—one day that’s gonna suck more than it does today.”

“But—can’t we be?” Auston wonders.

“Auston—we’ll always be _like_ family. But, like, you’ll find someone, and you’ll regret ever letting her call me her dad, ever letting me get so fucking close.”

“But I _don’t_ regret it,” Auston snaps. He takes a step towards Mitch who stands his ground. Auston relaxes his shoulders and takes a deep breath. This isn’t something to yell until Mitch gets—it’s just something Auston _needs_ him to understand. He won’t scream it, but he won’t stop saying it, either. “I never _will_ because like—even if you don’t feel the same, Ana loves you, and _she_ wants you in her life. And I know you want her in your life, too. So like—I don’t care if you don’t want me, just—please keep wanting Ana.”

Mitch is silent. His jaw is tense like he might be grinding his teeth together and—Auston feels sick. Auston watches as Mitch blinks and—his eyes are glossy. Which—what the fuck.

“I’m sorry—I—Mitchy, just. Like I said, it doesn’t matter. It _really_ doesn’t—I can survive, we can still be friends, you can still—“

“ _Stop_ ,” Mitch snaps, and Auston cuts himself off. Mitch looks like he’s seconds away from crying and keeps swallowing around what must be a lump in his throat. “Look,” he says, and his voice cracks, “I love you both—and yes, I love you, Auston. But—how long have you even been thinking about this?”

Auston hesitates. “Like, two days, okay but—actually _a lot_ longer, I swear, it just—“

“ _Two fucking days_ , Auston,” Mitch snaps. “And over here, I accepted a long time ago that this couldn’t happen because—you’re just. Projecting. And that’s—okay. It is. It’s just _hard_ , okay?”

“I’m not _projecting_ anything,” Auston argues.

“You have a daughter who _loves_ me. Who _wouldn’t_ try to make a relationship like that work?”

“I don’t fuckin’ know, _me?_ ” Auston cards his fingers through his hair and tugs a bit and then drops his hands to his sides. “You thought you didn’t fit because of _Rachel_ ,” Auston points out as he literally points a finger at Mitch. “But the first summer that I was home, Ana would _scream_ when Rachel would leave, when she was just a baby. Still, I never tried to make it work, I never tried to change Rachel’s mind, I never did _anything_ but care for my daughter and look out for myself, no matter how much Ana loved Rachel that first summer.

“And I never let anyone get so close to Ana—I’ve _never_ let anyone outside of my parents, including Rachel, tuck her in to bed, or fucking—fall asleep on the couch with her, or _get_ to her. She either didn’t like anyone, or _I_ didn’t because I’m the over protective dad, okay? And then—I fucking forgot about plans we made the night before, and you found out on _accident_ , and you changed our lives, and made everything better, and it was never just because of Ana, and it was never just because of how you were with her, it was because you fit, and I was falling for you without even realizing it, and I—I. I never wanted you to leave. Not after Ana was down for the night, not when we hung out in each others hotel rooms until curfew and then got kicked out, not when we had to say goodbye for Christmas, not—not _ever_. And _not_ when Rachel was there the other night. You have _always_ been the person that I want beside me, from even before you met Ana. I just—gravitated towards you, because you’re—mine. You are, and I’ve told you how I am about things that are mine. And if I have to let you go, that’s fine and I’ll adapt but you are so fucking wrong if you think this is all just the father in me talking. Ana liking you helps. But it was never a part of the reason that you were mine, my best friend, my favorite person. That was all you and me.”

Mitch, sometime during Auston’s rant, actually began to cry. He wipes at his face and sniffles. “I don’t—I don’t want to lose you guys,” Mitch whines. “And I’m _scared_ that something could go wrong, or you’ll realize that your feelings were all just—“

“ _Mitch_ ,” Auston croaks, “trust me, please.”

Auston notices that his own cheeks are wet. He’s not sure when this happened, but he’s not really surprised. The last few days have been an emotional roller coaster, and all of it is coming out at once.

“It’s been _two days_ , Auston—“ Mitch says again. “You need to—“

“I don’t need to do _shit_. You know how I decided to keep Ana? I talked to Rachel for the first time in two weeks, right? I asked her how she was feeling, and she said she was feeling great. She had just gotten off the phone with the second couple who had contacted her for adoption. I—felt sick, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it—so much that it made me dizzy. And I told my parents, and they said they would take her, they would raise her so I wouldn’t have to give her up. I called Rachel back probably two _hours_ later and told her to stop talking to couples, that I was going to raise her. And by the next day, I told my parents that I didn’t want them to raise her, _I_ wanted to. I _know_ what I want, Mitchy, and I don’t fuck around. I’m just—an idiot, sometimes who needs a push to realize the things I want.”

Mitch is staring at him, lips parted slightly, and he just—“yeah, you are an idiot.” Auston wants to protest but, well. “But, you’re right. I’ve never seen you regret anything. Even your god awful pants.”

“ _Hey_ now,” Auston pouts. It doesn’t last for long since Mitch grins at him in the next moment and Auston has to grin back. And then Mitch is sniffling again, looking away from Auston and to the ground.

“So, how does this even work? Like, no offence dude, but I’ve never dated anyone who had a kid before.”

Auston feels a laugh bubbling up, one of pure exuberance, and falls forward so he’s standing toe to toe with Mitch—both of them beaming at one another. Auston wipes his eyes and then his nose and just leans into Mitch. “I _think_ we do everything we’ve been doing, Mitchy. You just don’t have to wonder if you belong, because you’ll know you do.”

Mitch laughs. “Yeah, okay,” he agrees, “I like the sound of that.”

Auston copies the laugh with one of his own. “ _And_ I think we get to add kissing.”

“ _Just_ kissing?” Mitch asks, quirking an eyebrow.

Auston purses his lips thoughtfully as he leans in towards Mitch. “Well. For _now_.” And then they’re kissing.

Mitch’s reaction is immediate—surging up onto his feet, curling his hands around Auston’s neck to bring Auston as close as he can manage, and angling his head as he opens his mouth to deepen the kiss. Auston can’t stop the groan from slipping out of his throat. He raises his hands and puts them on Mitch’s waist—one on his hip and then slipping the other around to his lower back. He slips a hand under the hem of Mitch’s shirt and presses his hand flat against the bare skin of Mitch’s back. Auston lets himself sink into it.

Neither of them ends up on time for their family dinners.

**;

“Stay here tonight,” Auston murmurs, hours later when they’re curled up on the loveseat together. Rachel and Ana are on the couch, watching as Moana sings to the ocean. With the ocean? Something involving the ocean, Auston is pretty sure. Auston is sitting with his back against the backrest and his feet on the floor, while Mitch is leaning into Auston’s side, feet tucked up under his thighs. Auston thinks that Mitch can’t be all that comfortable, but when Mitch looks up and meets Auston’s eyes, he looks nothing but blessedly content.

Rachel leaves tomorrow, and Auston and Mitch tomorrow night. Ana will be back under the care of Auston’s dad while they’re gone, but for now—she’s with her parents, who all love her despite their differences of how they came to be. One who chose raising her over a normal teenage life. One who chose a normal teenage life over raising her. And one who—found her, and whom she found, the one who smiles up at Auston and says, “okay. I’ll stay.”

 

**epilogue:**

When Mitch exits the tunnel for practice, he hops on to the ice, and takes a few laps around, loosening the tight muscles in his legs. At 29, he’s beginning to notice the smallest of inconveniences. Like now, his muscles aren’t always loose and ready after his old warm up routine in the weight room—sometimes he has to get in a few extra stretches or laps before practice.

When his quads feel sufficiently stretched, he skids to a stop in front of the bench, reaches over for his water, and freezes. Ana is sitting on the bench, staring at him with a grin.

She’s grown up nice—her dark brown ringlets from when she was younger settled into waves that now reach down her back, and her round eyes, looking just like her father’s, still strike Mitch every time he looks at them. Her face is kind and her voice is soft—though her personality is not.

Mitch is proud to have help raise her, all in all.

Auston skates up behind him and knocks into his back and greets her casually, like they hadn’t just left her at home an hour ago. She nods at Auston and refocuses on Mitch. She stands up and walks over to him, and he notices for the first time that she’s clutching something to her chest. It looks kind of like an envelope. When she reaches him, she holds it out and—yeah, that’s an envelope. “You forgot this at home,” she says, easy.

“Oh?” Mitch says as he takes it. He narrows his eyes. If—well, someone had to go get her and bring her here. They would only put that much effort in for a prank. He reaches out to take the envelope—completely blank, but the flap is still open—not ripped, not peeled, simply has never been closed. He lifts the flap and takes the papers out, unfolds them and—“ _oh_.”

He hopes this isn’t a prank.

In large, bold letters across the cover page, he reads **STEP-PARENT ADOPTIONS AND TERMINATION OF PARENTAL RIGHTS**. And—well.

With shaking hands, he flips past the cover page, and sees a copy of Rachel’s initial termination of parental rights when Ana was born. He flips another page and—there’s a lot of text there and on the following pages that he doesn’t have time to read at the moment. He looks up at Ana who is staring at him with wide eyes, a small, reserved smile on her face as if she doesn’t want to be too hopeful. As if she thinks there’s even a slight chance that Mitch would ever say _no_.

“Seriously?” Mitch chokes out, trying to stop the tears from falling. He definitely doesn’t succeed.

“No, _jokingly_ ,” she snorts and then rolls her eyes. “Yeah, Dad, _seriously_.”

Mitch turns and looks at Auston who is staring at him. His eyes are bright, and glossed over with unshed tears. His lips are curved up slightly, as if _he’s_ nervous about Mitch’s answer, when they’ve talked about this before. Mitch—didn’t think it would happen as early as this, they just got married two years ago, after all.

He looks back to Ana, and laughs at her expression, even as he feels tears starting to leak from his eyes. “Stop looking like that,” he tells her. He sniffles and reaches out a heavily padded arm to pull her into a hug. “If you ever for a second thought I wouldn’t—you were so wrong.”

Auston presses up against Mitch’s back and rests his chin on Mitch’s shoulder. Mitch holds on to Ana for a few more seconds and then turns his face to look at Auston. Their helmets bump, but—“I can’t believe you didn’t ever mention this.”

Auston smiles wide. “I was going to wait like we talked about, but. Ana asked. It was her birthday wish this year.”

Oh.

Mitch looks back to Ana who is beaming, and Mitch can’t believe how lucky he is. He sniffles again and pulls her in so he can press a kiss to her forehead. “You didn’t have to use your wish on me. You’ve always had me here.”

“I didn’t use my wish on you,” she says. “I used it _for_ you. You’re my dad. You have been for ten years. You should know how serious I am every time I call you that.” She reaches down and unclips her bracelet. It’s the first time that Mitch has seen her without it since he stopped giving her baths. She lays it across her hand and holds it out to him. “See?”

At first, he doesn’t notice anything different. It’s the charms to show her ancestry and where she’s lived. And then, he realizes belatedly that there’s one too many of the blackish gray charms. He scans them and freezes.

Between Texas and Arizona rests a new charm—it’s a strange looking one. It looks like a large _L_ resting on top of another—country? state? At first Mitch doesn’t recognize it. Slowly, it all connects. He realizes that the _L_ is supposed to be Thornhill, and resting just beneath it is Toronto. His home town. His home. Colored the same as and placed with Rachel and Auston’s charms—her _parents_ charms.

_Oh._

“I love you,” he murmurs, staring at the charm. “ _So_ fucking much.”

Ana beams at him and reaches, making to hug him again. There’s a partition between them though and Mitch doesn’t like that, so he swings he leg over it and ends up standing next to her. He pulls her in. Ana lets out a gleeful laugh as he does, trying to wrap her arms all the way around his pads. Auston is still on the ice, off to the side laughing at them, and Mitch is just, so overwhelmed.

Mitch and Auston are two of only four players from their team a decade ago that still remain. Their staff has been almost entirely replaced, their coaching, their management, everything is different. Willy and Dermott still remain, but beyond that, everything here is entirely different than when he stepped on the ice for the first time in his rookie season. Everything is different and yet…

And yet, this is the same. It’s still—them.

Auston, Ana, and Mitch.

**Author's Note:**

> warnings:  
> * mention of underage sex. barely (barely mentions, not barely underage), but also it kind of references it the entire time in that auston is a 19 year old father of a four year old daughter. 
> 
> Fun fact: I am a woman. I have been called daddy by a toddler before because she already had a mommy. This is the same toddler/kid (when does the switch from toddler to kid happen? she was 5) who told her mom that she wasn’t screaming, she was yelling. 
> 
> So, this might not be the perfect representation of a four year old, but. I worked with a four/five year old a few years ago, and she’s kind of who I wrote Ana similar to? She was even bilingual with Spanish! Also apparently I was a know-it-all snarky four year old according to my parents, so. I’m one of the youngest in all of my classes, but my first year in preschool (when I was four and like two months old) I asked my teacher if she thought I was stupid when she asked me which one was a pencil or something like that. So it’s not too far off, maybe a couple/few months. So, Ana’s vocabulary is probably a lil bigger than a new four year old would be, but there are some v smart kids who can talk in full sentences early in their third year. I picture Ana doing that kind of 3.5 years old, and then just sky rocketing from there, as toddlers do with vocab. So she's not SUPER ahead of the curve, but is just a bit. So, her vocab/speech is completely possible, it's just not the "average." 
> 
> I do have one of my best friends whose toddler is growing up bilingual and the random changes from one language to another are VERY REAL. My friend still does it pretty often, and I’ll just be looking at her trying to figure out why her sentence didn’t make sense, and then I’ll just be like “hey, can you like, not speak Ukrainian to me? I 100% respect your language and everything but I have no idea what you’re saying.” Ukrainian was too obscure of a language for me to learn in my twenties since I wouldn’t be using it every day, but Mitch wanted to learn because he loves Ana and Auston. He does get it down to the point that he's fluent, but he'll still stumble over words that aren't as common. 
> 
> Though it’s not shown really, Mitch helps Auston with literally everything he can before they’re even together. He feeds her, bathes her, scolds her, etc etc. When they get together nothing changes about Mitch’s role in Ana’s life. Auston was never reluctant to admit the fact that one of his best friends was half-way co-parenting his daughter with him. Auston trusts Mitch 100%. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! If you read the note, thank you doubly much! 
> 
> Feel free to point out any mistakes, too! I'm sure there are probably a few somewhere in there that I haven't caught yet. I'm looking, though, I swear!


End file.
